Martin Lewis has shared his latest tips for the UK’s million of mobile phone users to ensure that they are protecting themselves from both unwelcome costs and scrupulous thieves.
The latest statistics show that thefts directly from people are on the rise, increasing a massive 50 per cent between December 2023 and 2024.
There were around 483,000 incidents of this kind of theft in the year, the date from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed. The most commonly stolen item: mobile phones.
At the same time, millions more people may be letting themselves get a dud deal on their mobile phone contract. Around 14 million people are out of contract, Mr Lewis has said, meaning they are likely getting a sub-optimal return on their payments.
Unfortunately, many are unaware that they are in this position, so the first thing to do is find out. This can be done by texting ‘INFO’ for free to 85075.
Under Ofcom rules, your mobile provider must respond to this text with information relating to your contract, including how much it would cost to terminate it early. If this amount is £0, you’re likely out of contract.
The next thing to do is find the best deal out there, although the choices on offer can feel overwhelming.
Mr Lewis’ Money Saving Expert website offers a handy tool to find the best deal for you, with options to filter by amount of data used, contract length and more. The money expert’s top picks include deals from Lebara, iD Mobile, and O2.
This is important, especially for those paying off their devices and paying for a mobile phone deal in one contract.
Writing on his weekly newsletter, Mr Lewis explained: “People are often shocked by the huge savings reported into my TV show on mobiles. Yet it’s often as they’ve fallen for the same catch, and it’s one everyone needs be aware of (check on vulnerable people you know, too).
“Many sign up to an all-in-one deal, where they get a new phone and their tariff. No problem. That’ll usually be at a much higher cost, say £30/mth. Yet once the contract ends and the handset’s cost is repaid, some firms – often the big ones – disgracefully don’t drop the cost. So you pay the same amount each month, even though the vast bulk of the cost was handset repayment. It should be banned. It isn’t.
“So we must self-police. They will always send you an out-of-contract notification. This is the most important thing to check then.”
Top tips to protect against phone theft
Once you’ve got the best deal on your device, the last thing you want is for it to get stolen. Mr Lewis shares several pieces of advice to protect against this:
- Disable preview notifications to prevent security codes from being visible on a locked phone, hindering thieves from making unauthorised purchases or changing passwords.
- Be aware of ‘shoulder surfing,’ where thieves observe PINs before stealing phones.
- Dial a quick code – *#06# (star, hash, zero, six, hash) – to save your phone’s unique IMEI number, which can be used by the network to block or identify the phone if stolen.
- Set up ‘Find My Phone’ or similar tracking apps to locate your mobile or remotely wipe all data, adding a significant layer of security.
- Enable biometrics (fingerprint or face ID) for your phone and banking apps, and turn on ‘stolen protection’ to lock your phone or disable features if theft is detected.
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